Iranian Americans Celebrate Thirty-Year Anniversary of Immigration to U.S.

The Public Affairs Alliance of
Iranian Americans (PAAIA) launched a national campaign on Nov 17, 2008 to raise
awareness of the positive contributions Iranian Americans have made to the
United States since their immigration from Iran during the Islamic
Revolution thirty years ago. Nearly one million Iranian Americans reside in
the U.S., making significant contributions to the public and private sectors
alike.

PAAIA's campaign begins with the release of an online video profiling Dr. Pardis Sabeti,
a Boston-based geneticist recently named by CNN as "one of eight geniuses
who will change our lives." Dr. Sabeti developed the first statistical
method to identify sections of the genome that have mutated due to natural
selection rather than chance.

Dr.
Sabeti, born in 1975, completed her undergraduate degree at MIT and
continued her education at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar before becoming the
third woman to graduate summa cum laude from the Harvard Medical School.
There, she is currently an assistant professor in the Center for Systems
Biology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, as well as a
Rhodes Scholar and the lead singer in a rock band.

Dr.
Sabeti is one of several distinguished Iranian Americans to be featured in
PAAIA's online video mini-series that showcases compelling stories about
high-profile Iranian Americans.

"Because of Iran's current geopolitical image, it has become increasingly
important to preserve the culture and positive identity of Iranian
Americans, who so passionately work to contribute and support the United
States," said Rudi Bakhtiar, former CNN anchor and PAAIA official, who
produced the mini series.

Ms.
Bakhtiar continued, "Iranian Americans' ability to overcome exile and
reestablish their purpose and identity within only three decades is truly
remarkable."

Several Iranian Americans hold tenured positions at top U.S. universities
and serve in senior leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies--including
Pierre Omidyar (Ebay) and Omid Kordestani (Google). In addition, according
to the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2008 report on immigrant-owned
businesses, 21.5% of Iranian Americans are business owners. PAAIA's
awareness campaign seeks to celebrate the extraordinary successes of Iranian
Americans over the past thirty years.

More information about PAAIA's campaign and "Profiles of Iranian Americans"
mini-series is available at
www.paaia.org.

About PAAIA

PAAIA is a 501(c)(4) "civic/social welfare organization" that is permitted by
law to engage in issue advocacy and lobbying activities. As a social welfare
organization, PAAIA can and should ideally have an affiliated political action
committee to enhance its political influence building activities. The
affiliated PAC will allow the organization to get directly involved in elections
at the state and national levels by providing contributions to candidates
running for public office.